Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/203

 JOHN HARRIS.

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��mental constitution for a judge most likely makes an indifferent advocate. An eminent and venerable member of the legal profession in New Hampshire says that John Harris " had the repu- tation of a good judge. He was hon- est and well qualified to discharge all the duties of a good judge of probate. As a lawyer, at the bar, he never ex- celled as an advocate, but had the credit of knowing the books and be- ing a safe adviser, and claimed to be a tolerable special pleader." We are further told that upon the supreme bench of the State, John Harris was of a timid mien and hesitating speech, and the jury was seldom or never addressed by him, nor were the opin- ions of the court often directly the result of his formularies. Yet, when he was judge of probate for Hills- borough county, with Charles H. .'\th- erton of Amherst, as register, the pro- bate code of laws was revised by their aid, and has continued without much amendment to this day. John Harris was made the head of the probate law commission in 1820.

In June, 1S14, the legislature of New Hampshire selected a commit- tee to '• designate the most eligible ■site for a State house, to prepare a plan for the same, to receive pro- posals from any town or individuals for building the same, and to ascer- tain the probable expense, and report at the next session of the legis- lature." John Harris was the chair- man of this committee. The other members v/ere Benjamin Kimball, of Concord, and Andrew Bowers, of Boscawen, .A^t that time Concord and Hopkinton were competitors for the prize. The decision was ulti- mately in favor of Concord. In this matter, John Harris received severe criticism from his fellow townsmen, who laid their disappointment at his door. In committee, the Concord member voted for his own town ; the Bos- cawen member, for Hopkinton ; John Harris, as chairman, for Concord. Thus was the scale turned. Had John Harris voted for his own town.

��Hopkinton instead of Concord would have been the capital of New Hamp- shire. Hopkinton felt this blow keenly. Some Hopkinton people said that John Harris was bribed.

However, we have grounds for de- fending John Harris' memory from this imputation of bribery. His gen- eral character and reputation forbid the ascription of sinister public mo- tives. The specific charge that he was rewarded for his action by a judgeship is untenable, because when Governor Plumer, in 1S16, appointed him an associate justice of the su- preme court, he declined the position, and a man will not decline to receive that for which he has already paid the price ; nor is it probable that, being asked to receive it, he will per- sistently refuse it seven years. There was a profunder reason than bribery that influenced John Harris' action.

At the time of the location of the New Hampshire State house, which began to be erected in 181 6 and was occupied in 1819, Concord and Hop- kinton were about equal in popula- tion. Ill iSio, according to the cen- sus then taken, Concord had 2,393 inhabitants, and Hopkinton 2,216, making a difference of only 177. Both were places of business enter- prise and importance. Concord, however, had one special advantage, in being located on a great river. In New Hampshire, rivers were then gen- erally thoroughfares. The Merrimack river, in connection with Middlesex canal, formed a direct thoroughfare between Concord and Boston, and merchandise was freely transported up and down. Prospectively, at least, the Merrimack was navigable still farther north. Hopkinton was ceas- ing to occupy a position upon a great line of transportation. The forecast- ing of the unequal destiny of the two places was easy. Such a fact could not fail to influence the action of a mind habitually contemplative of gen- eral rather than special objects and ends. John Harris, a man of broad and discoursive judgment, was con-

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